Display Control Apparatus, Display Control Method, and Program

1. A display control apparatus comprising: a storage unit that stores a video picked up by an imaging device during one pick-up operation, the video comprising a plurality of successively-imaged moving images; a display image generation unit that generates a virtual three-dimensional space comprising a three-dimensional model of an object, the three-dimensional model of the object being extracted from the video; generates a plurality of thumbnail images extracted from the video; and generates a bird's eye-display image which provides a bird's-eye-view drawing of the virtual three-dimensional space showing a location of the three-dimensional model with respect to the thumbnail images, wherein the thumbnail images are arranged at various positions in the bird's eye-display image, representing respective positions of the imaging device when continuously picking up the video; and a display control unit that causes a display unit to display the bird's eye-display image.

2. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein: the storage unit stores movement track information which represents a movement track of the imaging device when the imaging device picked up the video, and the display image generation unit arranges the thumbnail images in the virtual three-dimensional space based on the movement track information.

3. The display control apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein: the information which relates the thumbnail images in order in which they were picked up is a movement track line representing the movement track of the imaging device when the imaging device picked up the video, and the display image generation unit draws the movement track line in the virtual three-dimensional space in such a manner as to connect the thumbnail images in the order in which the thumbnail images were picked up based on the movement track information.

4. The display control apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the display image generation unit draws the movement track line connecting the thumbnail images in various line types in accordance with contents or imaging situations of the video between the thumbnail images.

5. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display image generation unit generates an alternative image to replace one of the thumbnail images in the bird's eye-display image, and the alternative image represents contents or imaging situations of the one of the thumbnail images.

6. The display control apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the display image generation unit: varies a size of the thumbnail images to be drawn in accordance with the drawing positions of the thumbnail images in the virtual three-dimensional space; and replaces first thumbnail images with the alternative image if a size of the first thumbnail images to be drawn is equal to or less than a predetermined size.

7. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display image generation unit draws metadata about the thumbnail images in the virtual three-dimensional space in a condition where the metadata is related to the thumbnail images.

8. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an image editing unit that edits the moving images in response to user operations on the thumbnail images or the three-dimensional model in the bird's eye-display image shown on the display unit.

9. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an image editing unit that generates, in response to specification of an angle in the bird's eye-display image shown on the display unit, the thumbnail images as viewed at the specified angle.

10. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an image retrieval unit that retrieves an image containing a three-dimensional model which is the same as or similar to the three-dimensional model selected from the bird's eye-display image shown on the display unit or an object corresponding to the three-dimensional model.

11. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display image generation unit extracts a set of the thumbnail images to be used in the bird's eye-display image from the video, wherein the display image generation unit performs the extraction under either one of the conditions: at a predetermined time interval of the video; where the set of thumbnail images were picked up when the imaging device was still; or where an image quality of the set of thumbnail images is better than non-extracted images in the video.

12. The display control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the thumbnail images is inclined with respect to an edge of the bird's eye-display image when the one of the thumbnail images is arranged in the bird's eye-display image, indicating an inclined angle of the imaging device when imaging the one of the thumbnail images.

13. A display control method comprising: generating a virtual three-dimensional space comprising a three-dimensional model of an object, the three-dimensional model of the object being extracted from a video, the video being picked up by an imaging device during one pick-up operation, the video comprising a plurality of successively-imaged moving images; generating a plurality of thumbnail images extracted from the video; generating a bird's eye-display image which provides a bird's-eye-view drawing of the virtual three-dimensional space showing a location of the three-dimensional model with respect to the thumbnail images, wherein the thumbnail images are arranged at various positions in the bird's eye-display image, representing respective positions of the imaging device when continuously picking up the video; and causing a display unit to display the bird's eye-display image.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly storing a program, the program when executed by a computer causing the computer to perform the steps of: generating a virtual three-dimensional space comprising a three-dimensional model of an object, the three-dimensional model of the object being extracted from a video, the video being picked up by an imaging device during one pick-up operation, the video comprising a plurality of successively-imaged moving images; generating a plurality of thumbnail images extracted from the video; generating a bird's eye-display image which provides a bird's-eye-view drawing of the virtual three-dimensional space showing a location of the three-dimensional model with respect to the thumbnail images, wherein the thumbnail images are arranged at various positions in the bird's eye-display image, representing respective positions of the imaging device when continuously picking up the video; and causing a display unit to display the bird's eye-display image.